Cole Huffman | Where Is the Fourth? Updateshttp://www.colehuffman.com/homeCole Huffman | Where Is the Fourth? Updatesen-usThe Longest Mile The tension between our religious liberty and anti-discrimination considerations for LGBT people is thick. Should you get into a conversation about this with someone and they discover you are religious, they might ask you what you have against LGBT...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=198437Tue, 22 Jan 2019 19:39:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=198437Full of Days Happy families do exist, maybe just not in the Bible.
Consider Job, the somewhere-east-of-Eden neighbor of Adam&rsquo;s broken family. Job&rsquo;s grown children were happy in that they enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company. The text says they...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=196017Thu, 06 Dec 2018 19:37:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=196017The Books List 2018 &ldquo;Books! To fling myself into a book, to be carried away to another world while being at my most grounded&hellip;is literally how I have survived being here at all.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&mdash;Anne Lamott,&nbsp; Almost Everything: Notes on Hope ...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=195772Mon, 26 Nov 2018 16:04:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=195772Thank You, Eugene Peterson &ldquo;For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.&rdquo;&nbsp; (1 Corinthians 4:15)
I consider Eugene H. Peterson a father in Christ. I&rsquo;ve...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=195261Thu, 18 Oct 2018 18:43:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=195261The Fixer Is Out In a preaching class where I guest-lectured recently, I was asked what one thing I would say to the younger version of myself about pastoral ministry. It&rsquo;s hard for me to answer questions like that. I think in tangles on the fly. But if I...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=193684Thu, 23 Aug 2018 17:25:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=193684Front and Center In one of his books, Gregory Thornbury says he once told a European audience that evangelicalism is a suicide death cult. We criticize ourselves to death, he meant. It&rsquo;s an off-the-wall way of putting it, but Thornbury was attempting to...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=190133Thu, 19 Jul 2018 19:35:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=190133Everything We OwnThe best tale in Finn Murphy&rsquo;s The Long Haul: A Trucker&rsquo;s Tales of Life on the Road is of moving &ldquo;Mr. Big&rdquo; into a 25-million-dollar mansion in Aspen, Colorado. Eight bedrooms. Eleven bathrooms. Olympic-size pool in the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=188081Mon, 18 Jun 2018 18:53:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=188081Forever's As Far As I'll Go People say if you know something well you know it like the back of your hand. It seems I do not know the back of my hand that well after all. I wouldn&rsquo;t be able to draw precisely from memory the vein pattern. I can&rsquo;t say how many hair...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=178958Wed, 25 Apr 2018 15:35:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=178958Adaptive Honesty: The Art of Teachability &ldquo;When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom&rdquo; &mdash;Proverbs 11:2
Being married to an artist means I usually never pick up a paintbrush for anything around our house.&nbsp;I did once, memorably.&nbsp; ...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=178265Tue, 20 Mar 2018 21:10:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=178265In Praise of Failure It epitomizes contempt to say to someone I hope you fail at everything you do . But what if I told you I hope you experience some failure at points ? I am actually serving you, saying this.
During the Winter Olympics, an article appeared on...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=177677Wed, 21 Feb 2018 20:48:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=177677Turns of Phrase How about a selection of favorite lines in Scripture? To keep it brief I&rsquo;ll exclude the wisdom literature&mdash;Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon&mdash;as the Bible&rsquo;s best turns of phrase are plentiful in those...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=177161Tue, 23 Jan 2018 21:46:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=177161Franken, Stein, and Us &ldquo;I felt worse than ever. I felt like people whose respect meant a lot to me had begun to feel like I was a terrible person. I thought about Eliot Spitzer again, and about all the people he had let down because he couldn&rsquo;t stop his own...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=175441Tue, 12 Dec 2017 15:01:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=175441The Books List 2017&ldquo;I remember reading once how some Stone Age Indians from the Brazilian rainforest with no knowledge or expectation of a world beyond the jungle were taken to Sao Paulo or Rio, and when they saw what it contained&mdash;the buildings, the cars,...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=175004Thu, 16 Nov 2017 17:07:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=175004XL Grace Caleb, our 21-year-old son, has a drug and alcohol problem.
On the inside of his left arm, Caleb sports a tattoo: XL. At first glance it looks like &ldquo;extra large.&rdquo; But it&rsquo;s actually the Roman numeral for 40, as in Psalm 40, a...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=174647Wed, 25 Oct 2017 15:57:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=174647Four Tasks (In his series Praying the Gospel, Cole taught the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer from Luke 11 and gave some particular counsel for when we know we need to forgive but don&rsquo;t know how. This article is adapted from his sermon notes, where he moved to...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=174190Tue, 26 Sep 2017 21:04:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=174190The Sun Comes Back It rained on our First Evan staff eclipse party. We had the right NASA-approved glasses. We had geographic proximity to the line of totality. But at 1:22 pm on August 21 at 735 Ridge Lake Boulevard, dark clouds obscured peak viewing. About an hour...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=173698Thu, 31 Aug 2017 20:06:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=173698Out Walking a LineA minister from across the pond, in an old book you haven&rsquo;t read, made the observation that young pastors will try to attain by one jump the height others have reached by a long series of single steps in a quarter century of labors. I&rsquo;ve...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=172479Mon, 19 Jun 2017 16:07:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=172479Walnut Street Is nostalgia wasteful pining? Being stuck in bygones, wistful for more of what isn&rsquo;t and won&rsquo;t be? Is it just our inner Uncle Rico throwing footballs at his tripod, readying his 40-year-old self to be a high school quarterback again?...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=171627Wed, 03 May 2017 14:16:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=171627Exits Stage Left Sometimes people leave our church for another one. How do we respond to that without defensiveness or defiance? Defensiveness is hearing but not listening. Defiance is worse. In both postures pride swells and we act like our church has it together...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=170111Thu, 23 Mar 2017 18:25:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=170111Repentance Deficit and Conviction Deficit There are two primary deficits in the church&rsquo;s witness, historically considered. One is repentance deficit and the other conviction deficit. Repentance deficit makes us seems superior to others. Conviction deficit makes us accommodate sin.
...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=169344Thu, 23 Feb 2017 17:08:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=169344Jesus Tech If Jesus walked our world today, would He use technology? Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Crowdsourcing? Many assume Jesus would want His message broadcast to the widest possible audience. Haven&rsquo;t we read the Great Commission? So...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=168661Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:35:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=168661The Books List 2016 When else but 2016 to read Lorien Foote&rsquo;s The Gentlemen and The Roughs: Violence, Honor, and Manhood in the Union Army ? He tells readers about a particular group of line officers dedicated to undermining every moral reform of their...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=167844Fri, 02 Dec 2016 16:38:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=167844Taught to Abound G. K. Chesterton believed gratitude was an issue for atheists enjoying sunsets. Who have they to thank for the evening sky aglow? Theists wanting to offer that up as a See! See! plausibility for God be warned: most atheists today shrug off...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=166905Mon, 24 Oct 2016 19:53:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=166905To Regret or Not to Regret To make a regret, take a pound of mistaken notions. Thaw at room temperature then season to taste. Bake on high heat. Remove the dish without oven mitts. Get treatment for your burns.
If revenge is the dish best served cold, regret is the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=166108Wed, 07 Sep 2016 20:48:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=166108A Wilderness Unto Ourselves How do we know we&rsquo;re making progress in our faith? Peter&rsquo;s list of seven supplemental virtues comes to mind, as does the premium Paul puts on prayer throughout his letters, and the emphasis John puts on relational integrity. These are...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=165700Thu, 18 Aug 2016 19:25:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=165700To See Behind Walls God knows it&rsquo;s not easy
Taking on the shape of someone else&rsquo;s pain
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &mdash;U2,...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=164847Tue, 12 Jul 2016 20:50:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=164847Forsaking Family Egotism Children can be a person&rsquo;s proudest possession. But in today&rsquo;s climate, Joseph Epstein writes, it is far from clear who, between parents and children, possesses whom. In the same essay (&ldquo;A Son at Tufts, A Daughter at...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=164339Wed, 08 Jun 2016 20:32:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=164339Candles in the Wind
I hope I?ve learned by now to ache for
the fallen pastor rather than pounce on him. God told Cain it is the impulse of
sin to pounce. Self-righteous sin has especially strong quads.
It doesn?t matter whether I personally
know the fallen pastor. I...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=162766Thu, 21 Apr 2016 20:14:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=162766How's It Going At Church?
?I see Him looking at them as they lay on the ground, with the poignant
abandonment of sleeping men: mouths open, heads thrown back, features relaxed,
limbs limp and inert. So vulnerable, so fragile, What, could ye not watch
with me one hour? ...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=161108Tue, 22 Mar 2016 20:09:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=161108The Remnant Will Rock On At a conference just over a year ago, the few hundred pastors in attendance were asked to stand in order to sit, beginning with those who?d served their church five years or less. Most of the room immediately sat. From there the years increased:...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=160546Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:28:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=160546Decision 2016
What does voting in presidential
elections have to do with love for neighbor? My neighbors aren?t all the same. My
unborn neighbor, for instance, certainly appreciates a candidate for high
office who believes his person is...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=159197Wed, 13 Jan 2016 15:13:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=159197Camels and Gnats, Terrorists and Refugees
One afternoon a young scholar toiled away on his PhD dissertation
at a top American university?s Poverty Research Center. A poor person walked
in. He?d seen the sign on the building and figured it was a place to get help.
No one in the Poverty...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=158583Tue, 15 Dec 2015 14:48:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=158583The Books List 2015 ?I have never understood people who don?t have bookshelves.? George Plimpton said that. Twenty years into ministry mine are almost full, which makes me feel less like a voluminous reader and more like the bigger barns guy in Luke 12. Except that I...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=158338Tue, 01 Dec 2015 17:28:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=158338The Sin of Gratitude What follows is a manuscript of my Thanksgiving Eve mini-sermon from Luke 18:9-14.&nbsp; I?d like to spend just 20 minutes or so with you in a familiar
text for most of us. In fact, it?s a text I took up Easter morning of 2014. We
were in a study...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=158252Wed, 25 Nov 2015 16:14:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=158252Twenty Years A Preacher
In the memoir of his first pastorate, Open Secrets , Richard Lischer remembers
his grandfather?s disenchantment with preachers started early:
?My grandfather and
his little brother hated it when the circuit rider came to town, because,...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=157757Thu, 29 Oct 2015 14:53:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=157757Talking to Myself About Unanswered Prayer
What should you do with the disappointment of unanswered
prayer? Most every Christian knows what it is to make requests of God that go
unmet. I?m not referring to last resort or emergency flare prayers, although
God answers those at times, but the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=156831Wed, 23 Sep 2015 22:02:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=156831Make Mine A Double
According to a 2012 Psychology Today article, public
speaking is atop the list of people?s greatest fears. During my son?s college
orientation this past summer, a university official made a core curriculum presentation.
Groans throughout the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=156587Wed, 16 Sep 2015 14:41:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=156587For Those About to Rock College Want to feel old? Incoming freshmen high schoolers were born this century. You should pop open one of those cans of Pork and Beans you stashed for Y2K to commemorate it. On January 1, 2000, the day the world did not end, our oldest child was three...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=154240Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:59:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=154240For Whom the Thrall Toils
A few years ago Tim Keller stood in my study
and scanned my shelves. I tracked his eyes, my left his right. Flush with anxiety
that my library might lack Kellerian heft, and before I could say, ?I can
explain all those dispensational...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=154171Fri, 31 Jul 2015 15:19:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=154171Two Presidents, One Charge: A Commencement Address
The text of my commencement address to
the 2015 graduating class of Evangelical Christian School, which included my
oldest son Marshall:
?To the ECS board members and
administration; to the faculty, family, friends, and...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=153475Tue, 16 Jun 2015 16:12:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=153475Inertia Switched: Thoughts on Manual Labors
I am accepting congratulations for acquiring
new wheel bearings on my old Toyota SUV, and donations to my keep-it-running
fund if the Spirit moves you. Bearings aren?t made of Kryptonite, you know. My
truck?s mileage (167,000) translates in Carl...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=153141Thu, 28 May 2015 14:11:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=153141Race, Gender, and Snakebite Observing the speed and traction of the
homosexual revolution, I?ve been pondering a way to frame the raison d?etre for why homosexuality in
practice is incompatible with an apostolic sexual ethic. More precisely, where
do I start when...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=152238Tue, 28 Apr 2015 15:04:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=152238The Sparkler ShowTennessee law bars ministers like me from holding public office. It?s an unenforceable law thanks to a 1961 Supreme Court ruling but it remains on the books. Atheists likewise are barred from office in Tennessee and seven other states. But whereas...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=151921Thu, 09 Apr 2015 15:30:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=151921Interests InventoryJust this side of vernal equinox is my birthday (March 14), the last hurrah for each of forty-six winters now. Chlorophyll comes out of hiding. Pollen spreads itself thick as vanilla buttercream frosting. Aslan is perennially on the move. Birthdays...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=151079Thu, 12 Mar 2015 14:12:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=151079What Goes Away Also Remains
It?s been said that every good joke requires three people: the
one who tells it, the one who gets it, and the one who doesn?t. How does one
plot his career? Like this (feel free to substitute your own name):&nbsp; Stage 1: Who...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=150090Sat, 21 Feb 2015 21:24:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=150090Twelfthness ?She sees them walking in a straight line, that?s not really her style. And they all got the same heartbeat, but hers is falling behind.? ?Echosmith, ?Cool Kids? A friend once observed there?s no way to look cool drinking from a straw. Your head...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=148024Tue, 20 Jan 2015 17:33:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=148024CNN, FOX, TMI: Accessia in the Information Age
?How Much Land Does a Man Need?? is a Tolstoy short story about
Pahom, a man who believes land is his salvation. The Devil overhears Pahom say,
?If I had plenty of land I shouldn?t fear the Devil himself,? and decides to
put Pahom to...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=147809Fri, 09 Jan 2015 15:23:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=147809You Can't Say That in Church In his book&nbsp; Tortured
Wonders , Rodney Clapp suggests that Christianity as popularly practiced (and
preached, I would add) is often too dualistic and ?spiritual? to help us
actually detangle earthiness from worldliness. To the overly...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=147511Fri, 19 Dec 2014 16:21:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=147511A Few Kind Words for Cops
Let us now praise infamous men. This summer I met an Anglican
pastor from Canada. He wears a clerical collar when out and about. On the
streets of his city strangers tell his children not to get into the car with
him. The clerical collar identifies...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=147335Tue, 09 Dec 2014 17:37:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=147335The Books List 2014
Writers know
their way around the world. I found my way out to Colorado back in June to hear
Cornelius Plantinga say that. A small group of pastors from around the country
and Canada got to spend a week there with Plantinga who was leading us...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=146371Wed, 12 Nov 2014 22:43:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=146371Promoting Gospel Promiscuity: First Evan's Session Statement on Homosexuality & Faithfulness to God
John Ortberg recently
wrote an article in which he remembered talking to a psychologist familiar with the psyches of church leaders. Ortberg
thought he needed to confront a fellow pastor for some unspecified misconduct,
but the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=145929Wed, 22 Oct 2014 15:19:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=145929Face Time
One of my favorite
Joseph Epstein essays is called ?Narcissus Leaves the Pool.?
?Emerging from the
shower, I stand naked in front of my bathroom mirror. This, let the truth be
told, is not an altogether enrapturing sight. (Had he...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=145134Fri, 05 Sep 2014 19:24:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=145134Evangelicalville: An Inside the Loop Satire
Rachel was weeping for one of her children. She
refused to be comforted, for he was a citizen of Evangelicalville no more. Dave
sat beside her on the couch remembering what he?d learned from the men?s
conference about Level 4 Communication?or...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=145002Wed, 27 Aug 2014 20:57:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=145002Less Valuing of My Opinionating
Are there times when
one shouldn?t share his opinion? Yes, of course. You think your aunt is hyperemotional,
and you can?t stand that in a person. Fine, but leave her to it at your uncle?s
funeral. Neither she nor any attender that day needs...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144850Tue, 19 Aug 2014 18:08:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144850The Difficulty of Labels
Years ago in my presence a friend?s easygoing but
unflattering characterizations of others was softly rebuked by a man who said
to him, ?You like to pigeonhole, don?t you?? At that moment the rebuke was
deserved. Pigeonholing is a kind of...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144730Thu, 14 Aug 2014 13:56:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144730Decisions, Decisions
Every year my counsel is sought by people pondering
major life decisions. How do I know
whether I should make this move, take this job, marry this person? Is God?s
will for me behind Door 1 or Door 2, or does God care one way or other what...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144597Tue, 05 Aug 2014 13:46:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144597The Miles to Full
We visited a lot of places in June, including an
unplanned stop in New Effington, South Dakota. According to the town?s website:
?New Effington, [ sic .] is a small,
quiet little community of BIG hearted, dependable people.? Amen to that....http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144398Tue, 22 Jul 2014 15:52:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144398Shoulding All Over Myself
I regret to inform you that God taught me nothing on
my recent sabbatical except how wickedly precarious it is to successfully
evacuate the bowels of an RV?s waste tank. I shoulded myself (say it aloud and the pun is obvious); that is...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144279Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:35:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=144279Beyond the Shadow of a Devotional Doubt
In a recent sermon on Matthew 13:31-33?two word
pictures Jesus directed at doubters of Himself and His kingdom?I quoted two authors
on doubting. Many asked for copies of the quotes. I take it we all know and
love a doubter or two. Here are...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=143546Thu, 22 May 2014 00:50:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=143546Respect in the Ruins
Art school is the devil. So I was told by a man
who has seen two of his sons? faith metastasize in matriculation. He wasn?t
blaming the college. No one takes your faith from you, you lay it down. Apostasy
becomes its own art form in places...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142733Thu, 10 Apr 2014 18:16:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142733Now That I'm a Christian Book ReviewHere's a link to a book review I wrote: http://thegospelcoalition.org/book-reviews/review/now_that_im_a_christian http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142621Fri, 04 Apr 2014 16:29:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142621Thirst for Accusation and Hunger for Self-Righteousness
Occasionally I?m asked if I won?t weigh in on some
issue or another, hmm? Some current event or whatever thing evangelicals are kibitzing
about right now? I?m asked this at church, over lunch, by email, ?tweeted at? for it.
Opinions...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142619Fri, 04 Apr 2014 16:18:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142619Choice Architecture
Evangelical Christians are often conflicted processing
change. We?re not sure if our choice architecture is to God?s specs and the
specter of finding ourselves out of step with ?God?s will for me? is scary.
It?s an unexamined assumption that...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142338Thu, 20 Mar 2014 00:49:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=142338Pastor Sisyphus and Filling with Kenosis
I?ve been at this long enough to say pastoral ministry
is supposed to be self-emptying. If it?s not you?re not doing it right.
The Greek word is kenosis , used in Philippians 2 of Jesus? own self-emptying. The
word came to mind...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=141937Fri, 28 Feb 2014 16:42:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=141937This Is A Pith Helmet Hardhat Area
?Areas
where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on
average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health,
lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=140985Thu, 13 Feb 2014 01:13:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=140985Moral Genre
The one sermon a non-evangelical relative heard me
preach was a scold. The world is full of softballs for preachers to stand in
pulpits and hit long. That Sunday I blasted a movie Roger Egbert probably
thumbs-upped. Then I noticed my...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=140667Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:48:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=140667Anfechtung Baby
I?m enjoying Timothy George?s Reading Scripture with the Reformers . He?s introduced me to Martin
Luther?s ?Three Rules? for scriptural engagement: prayer, meditation, and
temptation, a pattern Luther based on Psalm 119. The German word...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=139734Sun, 19 Jan 2014 01:11:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=139734Thwack Moments: A Meditation on Fathering and Sonning
THWACK is a pleasing sound for the baseball fan. That
percussive clap when Louisville Slugger meets fastball, sending it deep. Then there?s
the THWACK of your child?s head slammed against an object. Not pleasing.
My sons are 10...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=139336Fri, 20 Dec 2013 00:34:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=139336An Aspirant to Easy Edification
A mature Christian is easily edified. Harold Best
said that, former dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College. In describing
mature Christians one hundred ways I don?t think that angle would have occurred
to me and yet it?s so...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=139100Fri, 13 Dec 2013 16:52:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=139100A Pastoral Selfie
Reorganizing my bookshelves yesterday was a chore due
to my neglecting the task for too long, but doing so renewed vocational thanks
for my occupation. I don?t have to be a pastor. I get to be a pastor. The hard things about the job...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=138839Wed, 27 Nov 2013 18:03:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=138839The Books List 2013
Another pile of books await
shelving, the perused pages of 2013. This may be the first year I write about
my reading cognizant of how much it all weighs .
I recently boxed 2013?s untidy stack and lugged it through a parking garage to...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=138715Thu, 21 Nov 2013 14:17:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=138715Putting the Tic in Diagnostic
Diagnostic questions, if they do their job, stir
reflection and test resolve. Years ago I came across one in J. P. Moreland?s Kingdom Triangle that?s worth returning
to somewhere on the back nine of each calendar year. As a professor...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=138107Wed, 23 Oct 2013 14:20:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=138107The Third Brother I sometimes imagine a third brother in Jesus? prodigal story. The prodigal brother is the heavyweight sinner, yes? So we think. The elder brother is the lightweight sinner?so he thinks. What if there was another brother? As I imagine it (humor...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=137467Mon, 23 Sep 2013 13:50:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=137467Is Your Testimony Your Identity? It was recently suggested to me that one?s testimony is not one?s identity. Now I happen to believe a lot of us have come to think merely drawing a distinction is making a point. Preacher-types especially enjoy giving you a moment to admire the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135932Fri, 16 Aug 2013 17:32:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135932Faith in Memphis Post 8/10/13 My Faith in Memphis post last week was requested in response to comments Pope Francis made the week previous to a&nbsp;media pool on his plane regarding gay priests. I got some questions over the weekend&nbsp;about that section&nbsp;of my comments...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135860Mon, 12 Aug 2013 21:38:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135860When Is Leaving Your Church Ever The Right Thing To Do? Some friends of mine in another city left their church. It happens at First Evan too; people leave us for other churches and people leave other churches for us. Call it the evangelical diaspora. But when is this ever the right thing to do?leave your...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135555Thu, 25 Jul 2013 23:26:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135555Fifteen Cents to Fix You A video is making the rounds of an Oklahoma pastor publically upbraiding certain people in his congregation. You can watch the train wreck here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSJt-LHMNRY . You know that I love you, right? RIGHT!? It?s easy to...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135042Wed, 26 Jun 2013 21:30:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=135042Repentancy My apologies if I upset you. I?m only trying to be honest but I guess maybe you can?t handle that? Notice how I slipped into the interrogative tone there, conveying the self-awareness that I could possibly be wrong about you, thus owing you an...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=134942Fri, 21 Jun 2013 21:10:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=134942Forever's As Far As I'll Go I read an article recently calling for guys?aimed mostly at pastor ?bro? types, as I recall?to chill on the hot wife talk. Haute wife talk has yet to be condemned, however. So may I engage in a few lines of haute wife talk on this my twentieth...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=134465Wed, 22 May 2013 14:41:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=134465Controversialists On Cue Google commended itself for returning 686,000 results (in 0.32 seconds) when I typed into my search bar ?a controversialist is called,? seeking a synonym. The first two returns were a William Clagett and an Edward Gee, both seventeenth century...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=134390Thu, 16 May 2013 20:28:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=134390Time Dysplasia (Sunday-Onset) Reading those ?times for everything? in Ecclesiastes 3, I notice there?s not ?a time to be late.? For that matter there?s not ?a time to be on time? either, but you get the drift. In most venues tardiness is frowned upon and in some it is penalized....http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=133553Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:02:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=133553Churches Like Mine I?m glad there are churches like yours around still. I?m told this from time to time and heard it again recently. It makes me reflective. If I were inclined to cynicism I?d consider these words a kind of ecclesiastical profiling, but I?ve never...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=133427Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:53:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=133427Sex and God at Yale...and UNA My alma mater and Nathan Harden?s are more than geographically far from each other. Yale, where Mr. Harden matriculated, has nurtured the intellects of presidents and justices and Jonathan Edwards. North Alabama (UNA) gave honorary doctorates to...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=133309Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:33:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=133309The Boy, the Chili, the Cake, the Toilet, and the Grace of God To say my youngest son Colson is a finicky eater is to say Argentina is one excited country this morning. I don?t know how new Pope Francis would have handled a child excusing himself from the dinner table to go to the restroom again and again and...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=131501Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:45:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=131501One Apple, Two Deficits You?ve heard it said: ?There are three problems with this??whatever this is?or, ?Two issues with that??whatever that is. We make such lists all the time because there are plenty of problems and issues with most anything in a fallen world. None...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=129966Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:56:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=129966Benefit of the Doubt With news of Pope Benedict XVI?s abdication today, my participation in a Catholic wedding over the weekend, and having the human need for mercy much on my mind of late, I ponder again the movie Doubt . The setting is a Bronx Catholic school. It?s...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=128678Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:52:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=128678Baloney Detecting, Poisoning, and Healing Can you tell when you?re being lied to? Humans are remarkable both in our capacity for naivety but also for being nagged by the sense that something ?just seems? amiss about Person X?s story or claim. Last year I read a book by Mark Seal called ...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=128307Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:38:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=128307The Chronicles of Ahasuerus' Memorable Deeds, and Other Bad Books Perhaps this is the best time to tell you?after I used this space last month to commend some good books to you?that I was in something of a reading slump most of 2012. Similar to a batting slump when a hitter can?t connect his bat to a pitch, a...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=127382Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:30:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=127382A Prayer of Thanks in Times Square This last weekend I was in New York City (NYC). Saturday night we rode the subway from Queens to Times Square in Manhattan. You can now count me among the teeming masses who've sojourned that wonder of the media world. I was with another pastor...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=127240Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:16:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=127240The Books List 2012 (The following piece will print in next month's church newsletter.) Every December I use this space to reflect on books I?ve read during the year. There are books I lose interest in or read one or two chapters of and those don?t make the cut. I...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=126941Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:38:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=126941The Waking Up is the Hardest Part ?When you?re dreaming with a broken heart, the waking up is the hardest part.? John Mayer, Dreaming With a Broken Heart Most of the people I pastor or am associated with were disappointed at the results of the 2012 presidential election?even...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=126525Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:48:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=126525Parenting 201 I?m sixteen years into parenting now. Call me a sophomore father heading into my junior year?a member of the Parenting 201 class. Here?s what I think I know. I know I appreciate a church that lets me be a father. Which means my flaws as a...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=125942Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:58:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=125942Don't RT This I think it?s bad form for ministers to retweet (RT) others praise of us. If the effusive RTs were occasional on my Twitter feed I wouldn?t say anything. But they?re not, and Twitter is not an inconsequential tool for a lot of us in ministry. ...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123898Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:14:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123898To the Maxim It occurred to me once that I should ask God for the foresight to avoid what I?ll regret in hindsight. Thus was born another maxim. Sometimes maxims come about as byproducts of weekly sermon writing or reading. Sometimes they hit me out of the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123893Sat, 06 Oct 2012 20:17:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123893Why I Don't Preach the Vote It doesn?t happen with as much frequency or gusto as it used to, but in each presidential election season I am stopped in the halls of our church by concerned citizens urging me to please address our civic duty to vote, or please gather our people...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123295Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:57:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123295Hell is the Only Infinite Disaster They?re cleaning up from Isaac on the Gulf Coast. Isaac followed a similar path Katrina did (and Gustav?remember him in 2008?). I remember going to New Orleans a month after Katrina. Though not as intense as Katrina, Isaac re-damaged areas...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123253Wed, 05 Sep 2012 13:43:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=123253A Pinch or a Pound of Salt I?m thinking of salt. In Francis Chan?s book Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God , Chan quotes Luke 14:34-35, where Jesus said, ?Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=122999Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:17:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=122999The Violent Bear It Away How would you answer the email below? It?s the Faith in Memphis question of this week: ?Sunday?s tragic mass shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, coming just a few days after the tragic mass shooting at the theater in Colorado, continues a...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121327Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:59:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121327The Boys of Fall Parenting is a reaction sport. Our children are not automatons. They will think for themselves, some sooner than others, and as they do we need agility, like a running back in football, and resilience. The back knows he's going to get tackled...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121106Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:57:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121106Realism: Handle with Care Colorado wildfires consumed inhabited acreage like the ground was covered with lighter fluid earlier this summer, and a then guy opened fire in a full suburban Denver movie theater. Tragedies are to be expected in a world east of Eden. Saying so is...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121025Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:40:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121025When Should You Defend Yourself? The first time I can recall being put on the defensive was when a girl in a church I served long ago questioned my sanctification if not my salvation for belonging to a college fraternity. I was serving her church as a youth pastor, still in...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121005Wed, 18 Jul 2012 22:15:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=121005The Glorification of the Worm During my candidacy at the church I pastor, I was asked by a member where I would position myself on Sunday mornings post-service. The recessional tradition of walking from the pulpit to the sanctuary?s back doors after the benediction ceased...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=120739Fri, 13 Jul 2012 20:41:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=120739Shades of Blue: When Is It Crude Joking? Ephesians 5:4 is a killjoy: ?Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place?.? Most guys I know, including me, are ?out of place? on this point. We flout the stricture on crude joking all the time. It?s like...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=120233Fri, 22 Jun 2012 16:27:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=120233A Few Kind Words for Laughs Only bibliophiles read the ?Acknowledgements? in books, where authors thank and praise those strangers-to-us they love and appreciate. We are occasionally rewarded with some finds in salutes, such as in the new biography Charles Hodge by Paul...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=120228Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:01:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=120228A Meditation on the Suffering of Sin Some readers will judge from the title that this post reflects upon that suffering we bring on ourselves via sinful indulgence. Like the man who downloaded pornography on the company computer and suffered job termination as a consequence, or the...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119930Thu, 14 Jun 2012 19:57:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119930They Shall Take Up Serpents A famous line from a Monty Python comedy sketch announces, ?And now for something completely different!? The book I just finished qualifies, although it isn?t a comedy: Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119701Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:29:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119701The Polyvinyl Chloride Chronicles Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac. I notice bumper stickers. It comes with being an avid reader, or textocentric , if you prefer, and being a fan of Don Henley?s music. Put words before my bespectacled eyes and I read,...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119436Thu, 24 May 2012 19:24:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119436The Influence of a Teacher At Faith in Memphis we were asked to pay tribute to a teacher who impacted us greatly. I chose Dr. John D. Hannah of Dallas Seminary: Click Here
http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119142Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:52:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119142Practice Satisficiency Behold an apt word:&nbsp; satisfice . A First Evaner recently introduced me to it, finding it featured in a magazine blurb she cut out for me. She knows I love portmanteaus (the fusion of two or more words into one new word). Satisfice combines...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119140Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:55:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119140Pants On the Ground! At Faith in Memphis this week, we were asked to comment on a proposed Tennessee law banning "sagging," or the phenomenon of wearing one's pants with underwear exposed: Click Here
http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119134Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:59:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119134Book Review: Ravi Zacharias' "Why Jesus?"
A few weeks ago one of our daughters, age 11, attended the birthday party of a classmate. The classmate participates in a yoga class and thought it would be unique and different to hold her party there. Our daughter was not impressed...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119131Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:46:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119131Confessions of a Flu Fighter I?m writing these words at the end of a week dominated by flu. A few of our kids developed symptoms first then shared with me. I preached last Sunday morning (March 18) feeling miserable but functional enough. It wasn?t equivalent to Michael...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119128Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:12:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=119128The Birds and the Bees and the Chickens and the Ostriches It?s Spring Break in Memphis. Today my wife Lynn took our daughter Holly (11) away on a mother-daughter retreat. They?ll stay a couple of days at a friend?s lakehouse. Holly is our middle child of five so her older sister and brother have gone on...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117917Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:18:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117917The Dream of the Seventy-Seven I had a dream the other night in which I was addressing seventy-seven young men, all in their thirties, who were about to take the pastoral helms of seventy-seven churches and each church was, like First Evan, at least seventy-seven years in...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117919Sun, 26 Feb 2012 00:10:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117919Pointing at Train Wrecks In a vividly worded piece of cultural insight Kathleen Parker, syndicated columnist for The Washington Post , refers to paparazzi as ?parasites that coagulate on the souls of the talented.? Souls like Whitney Houston?exceptionally talented...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117920Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:04:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117920The Stress-O-Sphere Domain Do you ever find yourself wondering whether you?re doing enough for God? Wish you had glitzier spiritual gifts like teaching and leading? Ever worry that you?re too complacent? Beat yourself up when you don?t wake up in time to start the day with...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117922Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:50:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117922Reading, Writing, and the Arithmetic of Keeping Up Reading widely in the evangelical world I encounter a lot of subjects . We?re writing on any variety of things but not always clarifying the issues. I n discussions with Christians I 'm often asked my opinions on so -and-so or their view...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117924Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:15:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117924Speaking for a Living In his book The Grand Weaver , Ravi Zacharias relates a traumatic hospital experience to his maturation in ministry. Zacharias had major back surgery and needed to be carefully turned onto his side in his bed. The call button he pushed summoned...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117927Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:20:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117927Underbearingness I don?t know that parenting in general is any better or worse than it?s ever been. We all recognize I hope that some of the best parents have rotten kids and vice-versa; that within the same family one can find a child who is a credit to his...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117929Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:40:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117929Searching for a Series This post will appear in the January issue of our church newsletter: Occasionally I?m asked how I arrive at topics for preaching. John Houseman, the fusty old British spokesman for the Smith Barney ads of my youth, harrumphed in one of those ads,...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117897Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:30:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117897The Sight The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined. Isaiah 9:2 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117898Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:55:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117898How Then Should We Vote? Another presidential election looms in 2012. At the time of this writing the Republican candidates have completed eleven televised debates with the election still roughly a year away. Presidential campaigns are now almost two full years in length...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117900Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:10:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117900The Books List 2011 This will appear as my monthly article in the December issue of our church newsletter. I finished it today: Each December I use this space to reflect on books I?ve read during the year. I amped up my writing this year in starting a blog and...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117901Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:45:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117901How Do We React to the Death of Someone Who was "Kind of a Jerk"? As a panelist at Faith in Memphis, I was invited last week to write on death with dignity, and did: http://faithinmemphis.com/2011/10/08/a-dignified-death-takes-some-preplanning/ . &nbsp; The night before I turned in my post, Steve Jobs died...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117907Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:55:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117907First Laugh Then Think I caught a news story last week about the Ig Nobels. These are sponsored by the Annals of Improbable Research. From the website: "The Ig Nobel Prizes award achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117909Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:21:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117909Gestures and Postures Yesterday afternoon I watched a professional football game. The two teams played with a passion befitting their rivalry. In a tight fourth quarter the visiting quarterback, upon completing a key third down pass play, turned both his eyes and index...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117910Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:58:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117910A Refuge Called Tuesday If Tuesday went missing from the week, would anyone miss it? &nbsp; I would, because as of yesterday Tuesdays are my new day off. &nbsp; I restructured my week to accommodate weekly staff meetings on Monday mornings (the old day off). &nbsp; ...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117912Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:33:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117912What I'd Really Like to Say About Church Attendance I have a pastor-friend who speaks of letting things ?perk? in you. &nbsp; He doesn?t mean ?perk? as in perkiness (thank God, as I am anything but perky), but ?perk? as in percolator?meditating on something until you are ready to share it. &nbsp;...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117914Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:24:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117914Assessing Value Our garage at home currently resembles something like the queue on Antiques Roadshow . &nbsp; We?ve placed my grandmother?s dining room set in there along with a solid oak S-roll top desk. &nbsp; These two furniture items, along with a couple...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117878Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:31:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117878Dispatch from the DMV I met a woman at the well (see John 4) moments ago. I write this from the DMV. We're here to get Caleb's driver's permit. Banished to the waiting area while Caleb is tested, the only empty chair was next to a beautiful young woman, around 20,...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117882Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:40:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117882Free Labor I am not handy. &nbsp; I do own a chainsaw and thus my Man Card remains valid. &nbsp; But I am not deft with hammer or drill, skill saw or measuring tape. &nbsp; My aptitude is for working with words not wood. However, I am the son, and...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117884Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:05:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117884"You Are a Novel in a Sea of Magazines" Lynn and I returned Thursday evening from a week-long Sabbath in the Rockies at Sonscape Retreats, Woodland Park, Colorado ( http://www.sonscape.com/ ). &nbsp; We didn?t go there burned-out or in trouble, or looking for anything in...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117885Sun, 31 Jul 2011 01:02:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117885Those Halcyon Days of Yore Lynn and I recently took in a movie at the good ole Ridgeway Four. &nbsp; Woody Allen?s Midnight in Paris (PG-13) tells the story of an American screenwriter?s visit to Paris with his fussy fianc?e and her parents. &nbsp; The...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117887Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:03:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117887Where the Wildean Things Are Lately I?ve encountered a few situations wherein someone got whatever it was he or she thought they wanted, maybe even longed for: someone?s affections or acceptance, an accomplishment, or the acquisition of something new. &nbsp; But soon...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117889Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:53:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117889The Dove Not On My Shoulder I?m currently reading Matthew Lee Anderson?s Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter to Our Faith . &nbsp; Anderson is responsible for the mereorthodoxy.com blog that I keep a link to on this site. &nbsp; In this his first book, Anderson devotes...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117894Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:22:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117894A Few Kind Words for Camp Three of our children are at two different Christian camps this week. &nbsp; Of those three, our youngest camper recently asked me how it was I knew I would be a pastor someday. &nbsp; My memory instantly transported me back to a balcony seat in...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117895Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:00:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117895My Little Chick With Father?s Day approaching I am of course grateful for each one of my five children. &nbsp; But one of my kids, fourth in the birth order and the youngest girl, is particularly on my mind of late. &nbsp; Caley Kate (CK) is...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117857Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:10:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117857The Upside of Anger I have not been cussed like that ever in my life, even by my profanest high school coach. We were on vacation last week, staying at some friends? lovely beachside condominium. &nbsp; On Thursday one of my daughters and I transported a few...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117858Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:45:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117858The Sermon and The Lunch This is the title of an essay by C. S. Lewis; it appears in his anthology, God in the Dock . &nbsp; Lewis tells of listening?for a little while, at least?to a sermon given by a pastor-friend. &nbsp; The pastor?s daughter invited Lewis to lunch...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117860Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:16:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117860The Eye That Stinks A Pastor ?The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures? (Proverbs 30:17). Pleasant thought. &nbsp; But it is Agur?s proverbial way of saying take seriously God?s...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117862Fri, 27 May 2011 02:44:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117862Hart Shaffner Me This article will appear in our June church newsletter: A couple of Sundays ago, in the second NewSong service in the gym, I noted that I was about the only guy in the room wearing a tie. &nbsp; This neither alarmed nor concerned me. &nbsp; I...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117863Wed, 25 May 2011 22:50:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117863The Strokes of Teachability My wife is an artist. &nbsp; She?s been honing her painting skills since she was a girl. &nbsp; This usually means I never pick up a paint brush for anything around our home. &nbsp; But I did once, memorably. &nbsp; We were converting a room...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117866Fri, 13 May 2011 23:32:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117866Easter and the Girl Next Door The house behind us long sat empty as a FSBO. &nbsp; I called the owner a few weeks ago before trimming back some overgrown shrubs on his side of the four-foot tall picket fence that runs the length of our mutual property line. &nbsp; The...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117869Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:50:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117869The Jewels of the Egyptians in Service to Christ The last time I&nbsp;really leaned on a film to illustrate a sermon was three years ago.&nbsp; Why would that be memorable?&nbsp; I was teaching Hosea in the Spring of 2008,&nbsp;and used a scene from the film adaptation of Somerset Maugham's...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117874Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:45:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117874I Have A Pulpit This used to be my reason for not having a blog, that I have a pulpit.&nbsp; Of all communication mediums in existence&nbsp;the pulpit uniquely perseveres, always rising up to outlive its pallbearers who pronounce its irrelevance.&nbsp; The pulpit...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117842Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:36:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117842The Hatchling is Tweeting Below will appear as an article in our church's newsletter in April.&nbsp; If you attend First Evan, think of this as an advanced copy. A couple of years ago I was asked by a friend in another city if I was on Facebook. &nbsp; ?No, I don?t...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117847Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:43:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117847One Year Later: In Memory My mother-in-law, Gloria Simpson, died one year ago today.&nbsp; Below was my church newsletter article for March, 2010: With every ?Gloria in excelsis Deo? I heard and sung during Christmastime I thought of my mother-in-law, Gloria Simpson,...http://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117853Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:28:00 Zhttp://www.colehuffman.com/default.aspx?p=88236&beid=117853